17.9 PPM KH = 1DKH
My 170l Planted Tank Diary V6 03 12 05
- Thread starter AndyTaylor
- Start date
17.9 PPM KH = 1DKH
AndyTaylor
Fishaholic
Thanks RYO.
Just make sure you are not removing all the nitrate when doing the water changes to remove the phosphate, keep it in mind anyway.
Just add a small level teaspoon of bicarb, you dont need much, but you need to be consistant in the dosing, add exactly the same amount each time when you do the water change and this way you dont need to test the KH, because it should be the same. I remove exactly the same amount of water each week and add a specific amount of bicarb, i probably test about every month or so for KH but its nearly allways the same.
I would probably only add the bicarb if you are going to do 50% water changes each week, you probably could get away without it, for at least 6 months when i ran DIY CO2 i did not add bicarb or buffer my water and it had no bad effects, i did not lose any fish during this period, it was only when i started pressurised CO2 that i started buffering the water, but consistantly each week i do a 50% water change and reset the tank.
Just keep in mind if you buy a new tube locally that they may be the old dodgy type that caused all the overheating problems. They sell them in Aquatic Village in Brittas.
Are you dosing potassium sulphate btw?
Just add a small level teaspoon of bicarb, you dont need much, but you need to be consistant in the dosing, add exactly the same amount each time when you do the water change and this way you dont need to test the KH, because it should be the same. I remove exactly the same amount of water each week and add a specific amount of bicarb, i probably test about every month or so for KH but its nearly allways the same.
I would probably only add the bicarb if you are going to do 50% water changes each week, you probably could get away without it, for at least 6 months when i ran DIY CO2 i did not add bicarb or buffer my water and it had no bad effects, i did not lose any fish during this period, it was only when i started pressurised CO2 that i started buffering the water, but consistantly each week i do a 50% water change and reset the tank.
Just keep in mind if you buy a new tube locally that they may be the old dodgy type that caused all the overheating problems. They sell them in Aquatic Village in Brittas.
Are you dosing potassium sulphate btw?
AndyTaylor
Fishaholic
Ok, so i've upped the CO2 rate by a fraction.
PO4 has dropped after the water change to 4
PH & KH still as they were but I tested only 2 hours after upping the CO2 so todays results should be better.
zig, photos of the algae here: http
/s25.photobucket.com/albums/c58/Andy...cal&media=image
As you can see I still haven't gotten to grips with the camera!
I'll start buffering at the next water change. The fish seem to be unhappy with the O2 levels at the moment but i'm assuming they'll adjust....
Fixed the light, just a loose connection or something.
Here ends the summary!
PO4 has dropped after the water change to 4
PH & KH still as they were but I tested only 2 hours after upping the CO2 so todays results should be better.
zig, photos of the algae here: http
/s25.photobucket.com/albums/c58/Andy...cal&media=imageAs you can see I still haven't gotten to grips with the camera!
I'll start buffering at the next water change. The fish seem to be unhappy with the O2 levels at the moment but i'm assuming they'll adjust....
Fixed the light, just a loose connection or something.
Here ends the summary!
What happens when you remove the algae, does it just come back again pretty quick, and is it on many plants or just some? hard to tell what it is, it could be a type of staghorn algae, if it is, thats easy to get rid of, just get the tank in balance and it will disappear, or it also looks like beard algae, but im not really sure, i haven't come across this one personally, upping the CO2 will definatly help no matter what it is.
How much water did you change?
How much water did you change?
AndyTaylor
Fishaholic
The algae i removed seems to have stayed gone... more or less, but I have halved the lighting too.
It's mostly on any Java moss that's higher up in the tank, the low down stuff is fine. There's a little dark hairy type algae on the Anubias but that seems to be improving now that they're shaded. I removed all the dark hair algae from the crypts except for one leaf, so far it hasn't come back and the 1 leaf I left hasn't gotten any worse. None of the new crypts from last week are affected at all.
I did a 50% water change.
Last night's tests show that the PH has dropped by a little to 6.3 or possible 6.2, it's hard to tell with the Hagen tests because they only measure in .5's.... But it looks like my CO2 is heading for 30ppm.
The fish are not very happy. all of my Rams are at the surface breathing as are some of the smaller fish but they don't seem stressed so i'm going to persevere for the moment.
PO4 is down to 2.5, Nitrate still 10 or so
It's mostly on any Java moss that's higher up in the tank, the low down stuff is fine. There's a little dark hairy type algae on the Anubias but that seems to be improving now that they're shaded. I removed all the dark hair algae from the crypts except for one leaf, so far it hasn't come back and the 1 leaf I left hasn't gotten any worse. None of the new crypts from last week are affected at all.
I did a 50% water change.
Last night's tests show that the PH has dropped by a little to 6.3 or possible 6.2, it's hard to tell with the Hagen tests because they only measure in .5's.... But it looks like my CO2 is heading for 30ppm.
The fish are not very happy. all of my Rams are at the surface breathing as are some of the smaller fish but they don't seem stressed so i'm going to persevere for the moment.
PO4 is down to 2.5, Nitrate still 10 or so
AndyTaylor
Fishaholic
Took advantage of the weekend to get to grips with this algae.... Lost 2 fish on Friday and all my shrimp were looking for a way out so something had to be done.
I reduced the CO2 rate and ran an airstone overnight which is not the best solution but it worked for now.
On Saturday I threw out all the algae affected Java moss, tried cleaning it but it was hopeless so it went in the bin, cleaned the filter hoses and anything else with algae on.
Back to the LFS for fast growing stem plants, got 2 varieties of Ludwigia and any other 'weeds' they had!
Did another 50% water change and replanted. Buffered with bicarb.
Tested last night:
PH 6.4
KH 50/2.8
Nitrate 5ppm
PO4 2
CO2 @33 ppm
Dosed Nitrate to get 10ppm
Dosed Potassium to get 2.5
I still have some algae but it doesn't seem to be growing as quickly as it was. The fish seem happier even though the CO2 has increased.
Hopefully this week I should see some uptake of nutrients by the new plants. I may rethink my plants altogether as I seem to have ended up with a high light tank full of low light plants..... Now that's what I call planning!
Andy
I reduced the CO2 rate and ran an airstone overnight which is not the best solution but it worked for now.
On Saturday I threw out all the algae affected Java moss, tried cleaning it but it was hopeless so it went in the bin, cleaned the filter hoses and anything else with algae on.
Back to the LFS for fast growing stem plants, got 2 varieties of Ludwigia and any other 'weeds' they had!
Did another 50% water change and replanted. Buffered with bicarb.
Tested last night:
PH 6.4
KH 50/2.8
Nitrate 5ppm
PO4 2
CO2 @33 ppm
Dosed Nitrate to get 10ppm
Dosed Potassium to get 2.5
I still have some algae but it doesn't seem to be growing as quickly as it was. The fish seem happier even though the CO2 has increased.
Hopefully this week I should see some uptake of nutrients by the new plants. I may rethink my plants altogether as I seem to have ended up with a high light tank full of low light plants..... Now that's what I call planning!
Andy
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